Africa

CDC, a development financial institution, has hired a former regional head of global banking at Standard Chartered to mobilise investment in developing countries.

Egypt is revamping its capital markets presence, lining up a debut in the green bond market, a first deal in an Asian currency, and dollar and euro benchmarks all by the end of its fiscal year in June.

Renaissance Capital has hired a former Morgan Stanley managing director to the roles of chairman of the board of directors for South Africa and head of investment banking for Africa. The hire marks the latest development in the bank’s push into Africa.

African equity capital markets deals could bolster emerging market issuance figures this year and provide a post-Brexit boost for London where some firms are tipped to dual-list.

Ghanaian banks’ avenues for dollar funding could be set to grow, after one of the country’s financial institutions entered into a total return swap with Société Générale that soothed over bottlenecks in its repo markets.

An equity capital markets banker at Rand Merchant Bank has left the bank to study for an MBA at Insead.

Mauritius Commercial Bank is looking for a syndicated loan, in a rare deal to pass across London desks so far this month that is not a refinancing exercise.

African Export-Import Bank has closed a $500m five year term loan, it announced on Wednesday, partly guaranteed by the Export-Import Bank of China. The presence of a mainly Asian syndicate has sparked discussion about the continually increasing Chinese capital flowing into Africa.

Pessimism hangs over Nigeria's chances of entering the loan market in 2019 as the country battles an economic slowdown, a commodity slump and political uncertainty. But not all loans bankers are so glum about the chances of Africa's most populous nation and biggest oil producer raising debt from international financiers.

Africa Finance Corp has raised a $300m loan facility from a consortium of international lenders.

ZOLA Electric, formerly Off Grid Electric, has raised a $32.5m credit facility with development bank, FMO, and investment firm, Symbiotics.

Thirteen emerging market sovereigns will face their first bond market redemptions over the next seven years and, with financing conditions set to become more difficult, market participants are watching them carefully.